The present invention relates to a manual, electric, air-operated or oil-operated dispenser with reciprocating action for dispensing predetermined quantities of fluid or paste-like products such as food products, toothpaste, lubricating oils, soaps and the like. Devices for dispensing predetermined quantity of paste-like product are known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,810, which discloses a dispensing device comprising a reservoir, and a sliding mounted plunger shaft, with a piston member connected thereof. The extent of the travel of the piston member, and therefore the volume of the product dispensed, is determined by how deep the plunger shaft penetrates into the container. Said depth of penetration is determined by the distance that an actuator means may be moved downwardly before it encounters an adjustable abutment shoulder.
The object of the invention is to provide a device of the type indicated above which is easy and inexpensive to manufacture and which can be used quickly and easily. A further object of the invention is to provide a low-cost device which can be refilled easily even by unskilled personnel, preferably by means of xe2x80x9cdisposablexe2x80x9d refill reservoirs of containers.
A further object of the invention is to provide a device which is available for use immediately without the need for complex operations to decant fluid or paste form one container to another.
The subject of the invention is a device which is a manual, electric, air-operated or oil-operated dispenser with reciprocating action for dispensing fluid or paste products. The dispenser comprises a reservoir body (11, 20, 36) which communicates with a duct (24,43) having an opening outside of the reservoir body, a piston member (18,31, 41) which is mounted for sliding in a leakproof manner outside of the reservoir body, having actuator means which can travel from a starting position and cause the piston member to advance for a predetermined length, the position of the piston member remaining fixed during the return travel of the actuator means to the starting position.
Further characteristics and advantages will become clear from the following detailed description of some embodiments of the invention, given with reference to the appended drawings, provided purely by way of non-limiting example, in which: